Andre Braugher's Best TV Series Will Soon Be Streaming For The First Time

The peak television renaissance didn't happen overnight. A decade prior to the epochal debut of "The Sopranos" on HBO, series as disparate in their aims as "The Simpsons," "Twin Peaks" and "The Larry Sanders Show" were challenging the industry's notions of what the broadcast medium could accomplish. Dramatic story arcs began to stretch out over a season or longer, while sitcoms got edgier and less hidebound to the multi-camera format. These successes emboldened major filmmakers to try their hand at episodic TV, which didn't always pan out. But it was always thrilling to see great artists romp about in a medium Hollywood once considered beneath them.

Of these efforts, it's possible none had a greater influence on the peak era than NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street." When Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon began shopping his book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," an account of his time spent following one of the city's most overworked homicide units, to producers, he envisioned a big-screen crime flick directed by Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson (who'd just completed his Charm City trilogy of "Diner," "Tin Men," and "Avalon"). Levinson loved Simon's book, but felt the material would best be served as a (hopefully) long-running television series. There was just too much detail and too many characters to squeeze into even a three-hour epic.

So, Levinson teamed up with "Quiz Show" screenwriter Paul Attansio (who received a much-disputed "created by" credit), Tom Fontana, and James Yoshimura to bring Simon's true-crime tome to television. "Homicide: Life on the Street" was never a ratings juggernaut, but it lasted for seven critically acclaimed seasons and turned the late, great Andre Braugher into a star. And now, after a torturously long wait, it is finally coming to streaming.

Beginning on August 19, 2024, Peacock subscribers will be able to watch "Homicide: Life on the Street" in all its 4k-remastered glory. It took some time to hash out music licensing issues, but that job is at long last done. Now, the too-long-out-of-circulation series is ready to be rediscovered by a generation that, in large part, has never seen this prelude to David Simon's venerated "The Wire."

As someone who was a devoted "Homicide" viewer from its post-Super Bowl XXVII premiere to its 2000 movie finale, I'm very curious to see how younger audiences who've binged gritty crime dramas like "The Sopranos," "The Wire," and "The Shield" will respond to a series that, while constrained by network standards and practices, managed to bring a bracing, deglamorized reality to what had become at the time a very stale genre. "Homicide" may capitulate to cop show formula itself every now and then, but the characters are anything but cliche. And that cast! You've got Ned Beatty, Melissa Leo, Yaphet Kotto, Clark Johnson, Jon Polito, Giancarlo Esposito, and Richard Belzer hurling high thespian heat every episode.

But the heart and soul of "Homicide" is Braugher's Detective Frank Pembleton. Tough, uncompromising and more than a little arrogant, Pembleton more than earns his reputation as a legend in the Baltimore PD. But the more time we spend with him, the more flawed and fragile he becomes. Braugher, who we lost way too soon at the age of 61 last year, gets loads of leeway to explore Pembleton, especially when the writers throw him a curveball in season 4 that I'm not going to spoil for newcomers to the series.

I'm also going to implore those of you experiencing "Homicide" for the first time to not skip around looking for the essential episodes. For those of you who have looked ahead: yes, "Subway," which contains a master class in acting delivered by Braugher and Vincent D'Onofrio, is as good as its considerable hype. But you need the richness of the 100 or so episodes that come before it for it to land with maximum impact.

122 episodes is an investment, but I guarantee it is so very worth it. "Homicide: Life on the Street" needs to be viewed in context as a network series that can't go as hard with violence and language as the shows it inspired, but I've a feeling the quality of the writing and the fully committed performances from that murderer's row cast will hit you like a brick. This is one of the greatest television shows of all time, and now it's coming to Peacock for all of us to cherish anew.